


GGEZ

by birdii (birdmint)



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Gaming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdmint/pseuds/birdii
Summary: Red Velvet is a solo act consisting of Wendy. Her little cousin Yerim, however, is part of a popular 4 girl gaming team aspiring to go pro. What happens when Wendy finally gets to meet the other members (and one is a big Red Velvet fan)? wenrene gaming au
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	GGEZ

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Russian Roulette](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/542386) by squishykimtaeyeon. 



“Yerim-ah, I’m not playing video games with your friends,” Seungwan protested as Yerim shook Seungwan’s arm back and forth with a pout.

“You can’t play with us, unnie. There’s only four spots on a team.” Yerim rolled her eyes as Seungwan sighed. “You don’t have a schedule for once and we had a skirmish night planned anyways so it’s perfect timing. Don’t you wanna meet the people I hang out with when you’re too busy for me?”

Yerim grinned, but Seungwan still felt guilty. Her little cousin had moved out to Seoul for university with the thought that Seungwan would be near by to keep an eye on her. However, with her busy idol schedule, visits with Yerim were brief and further between than either of them would like. “Alright, alright. When do I show up?”

“Hell yeah!” Yerim yelled, raising her arms in the air in victory. Seungwan feared for their drinks, her hand shooting out to keep her iced tea latte upright. “You don’t even need to bring cupcakes this time. Just show up around 8.”

“Isn’t that kind of late?

“We’re college kids. College gamers.” Yerim rolled her eyes again. “We start earlier on weekends but someone’s a famous idol who has to work instead of play games all day.”

“Ugh.” Seungwan shook her head with an exaggerated sigh. “What a rude kid.”

“You know you’re jealous.” Yerim winked, shooting a bright cheesy grin. But the mischievous expression soon morphed into a genuine smile. “I’m so excited; I’ve told them all about you. Not about you being Wendy!” She amended as Seungwan glared at her, not that Seungwan would seriously expect her cousin to spill the secret that she was the idol behind the solo project Red Velvet. “I told them about how dorky and awkward you are.”

“Of course.” Seungwan frowned. “But what if they do recognize me? You guys do stream, right?”

Yerim snorted, and Seungwan suspected she should be offended. “Don’t worry, unnie. “Wendy” and “Seungwan” are like night and day. I barely recognize you in the fan cams sometimes.”

“Which I’m sure you look up just to laugh at.”

“Unnie, girl crush does not suit you at all. I cringe every time I see your new photos.” Apparently imagining said photos, Yerim burst into giggles. Seungwan waited it out with a long-suffering sigh.

“So yeah, the girls won’t recognize you at all. And since we aren’t streaming this practice, you don’t have to worry about some fan speculating about your voice either.”

“I’ll be over this evening then,” Seungwan conceded, finishing off the latte in front of her. She stood up with a smile, pulling her mask back up over her face. Protests aside, she was happy to get a chance to hang out with Yerim again. “See you then.”

“Bye unnie! Don’t be late or I won’t answer the door!”

Seungwan waved as she walked out of the cafe, laughing although she knew it wasn’t an idle threat. If she was in the middle of a round, Yerim wouldn’t get up and answer the door. She had once left Seungwan standing outside for a half hour while finishing up when she really needed to pee. It'd been a very long half hour, and she'd never dared to be late again.

\--

  
The photoshoot was a clean, minimalist concept. She was placed into simple dresses with clean lines against a black and white background. Her hair was flat ironed neat, makeup kept light. She was mostly asked to dispassionately stare at the camera, off into the distance, or at the pure white 3D shapes in front of her. The photoshoot ended with plenty of time for her to change and pick up cupcakes on the way to Yerim’s apartment.

“Unnie! You look nice today,” Yerim exclaimed as she opened the door.

“I don’t normally look good?” She stepped past Yerim with a laugh, trading her sneakers for a pair of slippers.

“Everyone looks good with cupcakes in their hands.”

“I get it, I get it. Here.” She shoved the box into Yerim’s hands before following her into the computer room. Despite the teasing, Yerim had a bright smile on her face and Seungwan knew the gesture was appreciated despite the younger girl ostensibly taking it for granted. The younger girl was a social butterfly, able to make friends easily. However, Seungwan knew that she missed her family, especially her little sisters, and Seungwan was the only family who could come visit in person.

“Are the other girls already online?”

Yerim nodded. “Everyone came early because they knew you were gonna be here. I just told them I was going to get the door. Here, sit here, unnie!”

Yerim patted the chair next to her, a small chair dragged from the living room that was dwarfed by the gigantic gaming chair beside it. “I plugged in my backup headset. It doesn’t have a mute feature like my main one so be careful. The mic picks up a lot of background noise.”

“So does that mean they can hear us now?” Seungwan asked, settling into the chair carefully.

“Uh... probably.” Yerim shrugged. “But it’s okay because it’s time to put on the headset.”

Seungwan sighed and picked up the headset she was directed to as Yerim collapsed into her chair and popped her own headset on.

“Yeri!” was the first thing Seungwan heard when she put on the headset. “Yeri, can she hear us yet?”

“Yeah, you dumbo. She’s right here. Say hi, unnie!”

“H-hi?” Seungwan said tentatively. She felt a bit silly; while she was used to talking to a camera, she wasn’t at all used to the idea of talking to strangers over the internet. She turned to Yerim, eyebrow raised. “Yeri?”

“They can still hear you, unnie!” Yerim told her as peals of laughter came over the headset. “It's from my username, see?” Yerim pointed at a part of the computer screen. Seungwan wasn’t familiar with the interface, but she saw the name Yerim was pointing out, 'yerimese’.

“Yeri,” Seungwan said flatly to renewed laughter.

"It's not that different, unnie," she said, shaking her head before looking back at the screen.“Okay, time for introductions. Everyone, this is Seungwan unnie.” There came a chorus of ‘hellos’ in response. “There’s Joy, who’s the next oldest. She’s our sniper. When she actually manages to snipe.”

“Heeeeey!” came a loud yell.

“Hi Joy?” Seungwan ventured, but apparently Yerim’s comment had hit its mark.

“You can’t talk when you can’t aim half the time.”

“Half the time is more than zero of the time—”

“Yeri. Joy.” A sharp tone cut through the argument.

“Yeah, mom?” Joy replied, voice bright and innocent.

Yet another voice Seungwan didn’t recognize jumped in before the conversation could continue. “Hi, I’m Seulgi!”

Seungwan laughed as Yerim resumed her introductions. “So, Seulgi unnie is the same age as you. She’s our healer.”

“You know I don’t know what any of that means,” she responded, pushing at Yerim’s shoulder.

“It’s time to learn.”

“Were you born in ‘94 too?” Seulgi asked.

“Yeah!”

“Then we’re the same age! Let’s be good friends!” Seulgi’s voice, even without a face to put to it, sounded so cheerful and genuine that Seungwan couldn’t help but take a liking to her.

“Okay!” Seungwan responded with a smile.

“And lastly,” Yerim continued, “is our tank and leader, Irene unnie.”

The name rung a bell from Yerim’s past stories about her friends. “Isn’t she the one you said gets hit on all the time when streaming?”

“All of us do because we’re girls on the internet,” Joy explained with a laugh. “But oh god, do you remember the face reveal?"

Seungwan jumped as Yeri shrieked beside her. "I never want to remember Irene unnie's face reveal day, holy shit. That day was a nightmare in chat."

"God, the modding I had to do," Joy complained. "Our channel was never the same. And we didn't even get to play that day."

“It was so embarrassing,” came a soft voice. "I didn't think it'd be such a big deal."

"It's because you're pretty, unnie," Seulgi said.

"Honestly, I don't get the point of the face reveal at all, but the viewers appreciated it so..." Irene sighed. "Hi Seungwan-ssi. I hope we all get along well.”

Seungwan was embarrassed herself thinking that if Irene was as pretty as her voice, then she could understand the fuss. And she hadn’t even seen her face.

“Uh— m- me too.”

Yerim gave her an evil grin at her stumbling, but thankfully didn’t say anything out loud.

“So let’s get warmed up,” Irene continued, which led to a frenzy of protests.

“Aw but we just met Seungwan unnie—“

“Yeah shouldn’t we talk with her?”

“Are you trying to leave her out, unnie?”

“Cut it out you two. I’m going to put us in queue. Seungwan-ssi, Yeri-ah said you didn’t play so you should ask us if you have any questions. And don’t mind the young ones’ foul mouths.”

“Like you can talk—"

Seungwan laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen Yerim play video games before. I’ve heard plenty.”

The screen changed to what looked like a field. She could see four figures standing together.

“Is that you guys?” Seungwan asked. She’d watched Yerim play games before, but this one was new to her.

“Yeah, the one in front is me!”

“I’m the one dancing!” Seulgi chirped. Seungwan leaned to see better but none of the figures looked like they were dancing to her.

“Get out of the way, unnie,” Yerim complained, pushing at her shoulder without looking away from the screen. “I’ll elbow you if you’re right there when the match starts.”

Seungwan felt very out of her element watching them play. She couldn’t figure out where on screen to look, nor what exactly they were trying to do. All she could tell is that the timer kept going down and all of them seemed to be alive. Irene kept up a steady stream of soft-spoken commands while Yerim and Joy cursed at things Seungwan didn’t understand. Seulgi occasionally chimed in with, “We got this,” and “Winnable,” the younger two’s complaints seeming to brush off her without impact.

“We’re on the point, gogogo!” Yerim screamed, and Seungwan jumped, getting a double dose from the headphones and Yerim’s physical presence. “Two guys top left, point’s clear.”

“Yeri, get up top; Joy, Bear cover her from down here. I’ll scope the front—"

Seungwan kept her eyes on the screen— she almost understood Irene’s call outs. She watched as the team managed to do exactly what she said, seeing Yerim take out both guys on the balcony with support from Joy. After that, they moved forward as a team to clear out the corridor Irene had been scouting, taking out another person. After that, they hung out in the middle of the square in the room until “Objective Secured” appeared on the screen, eliciting whoops of victory from the gamers.

“You did it, right? That’s what that means?” Seungwan asked.

“We did. No deaths ezpz.”

“Don’t get cocky, Joy-ah,” the leader scolded them. “We just queued into quick play.”

“But Moooom, we have to show off to the new girl!”

“Do you even know how to play at all?” Seulgi asked.

“No clue,” Seungwan cheerfully admitted again.

“Then we have to teach you! How else will you ever play with us?”

Seungwan wasn’t sure about that one, but she enjoyed herself as the girls took turn explaining parts of the game and bickering amongst themselves, even Irene who had seemed so much more composed than the rest of the team. By the time the girls logged out of the game, Seungwan thought she understood the basics, at least, even if she wasn’t sure her hands were fast enough to play herself.

“It was a good night everyone,” Irene said. “But it was also just for fun, so review and get ready for our skirmish scheduled with Busan tomorrow.”

“It’s Busan,” Joy said dryly. “We wreck them every time.

“No one beats RV!” Yerim exclaimed.

“Only if we focus,” Irene scolded as Yerim just laughed.

“Why are you called RV?” Seungwan asked, once Yerim’s laughter died out. “Does it stand for something?”

Yerim looked over to Seungwan, her smile morphing into a guilty expression and Seungwan instantly knew she wasn’t going to like the answer to the question.

“Oh, unnie named us!” Seulgi was the one to answer. “She named us RV after her favorite band, Red Velvet!”

Seungwan gave Yerim the nastiest glare she could muster as Irene shrieked surprisingly high and Seulgi and Joy laughed at the older girl. Yerim only shrugged, giving Seungwan the most innocent smile she could muster while holding back her own laugh.

There was nothing Seungwan could do at this point. She just hoped Yerim was right and her Wendy and Seungwan personas were different enough to hide her from a fan. Did Yerim even understand how K-Pop fan culture worked? If Irene was a hardcore fan, it’d be a miracle if she didn’t recognize Seungwan’s voice.

“Seungwan-ssi? Did I scare you off?” Irene asked. Seungwan thought she could hear an edge of genuine worry in the question.

“Oh— n-no, I like Red Velvet too,” she grit out.

“Ah! What’s your favorite song?”

“Um...” God she’d been asked this a million times, but she’d never planned on answering it when she was pretending to not be herself. “Maybe... Body Talk?”

“Oooh, that’s a good one!” Irene had raised her voice a few times during the call, but minus her earlier shriek, it was the loudest she’d spoken all night. “I think my favorite is Candy!”

“Ah- th-that’s a pretty old one...” Seungwan wasn’t sure if her nerves or her happiness was winning out. Candy wasn’t a song many people remembered as it was a slower song on an earlier album. The sweet song about love had a special place in her heart.

“Stop being hipsters with all these B-sides,” Joy cut in. “What about Bad Boy? The classic.”

“That’s playing all the time on the radio nowadays. I like Rookie!”

“Was that what came on MelOn earlier, Yeri?”

“Don’t call me out like this!”

“I like Body Talk too, Seungwan!” Seulgi called out cheerfully.

“I like Body Talk more!” Irene shouted.

“We get it, we get it you big fangirl,” Joy snorted. “We know you love Wendy, and that’s why we let you name us a stupid name.”

“I think it’s a cool name, regardless.”

“Of course you do, Bear unnie.”

Seungwan sat in silence, stunned as the girls discussed her work without knowing she was right there. Yerim turned to give her a look, but Seungwan didn’t even notice. Finally, Yerim decided to take initiative, cutting through what had apparently become an unnie teasing session with Seulgi and Joy teaming up.

“And you have three posters of her!”

“She has seven albums! I didn’t even get them all—“

“Guys I think Seungwan unnie is gonna fall asleep in her chair. It’s time to call it quits for the night.”

“It was good to meet you!”

“Come back if our fangirl nerd unnie didn’t scare you away!”

“We’re all nerds, you dork!”

“Please come back and visit Seungwan-ssi!”

“It was good to meet you too,” Seungwan finally choked out. “Have a good night!”

With another chorus of goodbyes, everyone left the group chat, leaving Yerim and Seungwan alone to pull off their headphones.

Seungwan immediately rounded on Yerim. “And you didn’t tell me Irene-ssi was a Red Velvet fan because...?”

“Because you would freak out and overthink things,” Yerim said. “In voice chat, you’re just Seungwan unnie, my older cousin. And if she guesses otherwise, all we have to do is say she’s wrong. I do it all the time because she always texts me things like, ‘Yeri I went to Seoul this weekend and I think I saw Wendy!’ ‘Wendy was in the studio today! Did you see her on your way to school?’. Actually, I think she did see you once because she described the clothing you were wearing in a selfie you sent me…” Yerim paused at the unimpressed look Seungwan was giving her. “It’ll be fine, unnie. Especially if you never show up on stream.”

“Just don’t give anyone my number!”

Yerim rolled her eyes. “Unnieeee... I only did that the one time because she obviously wanted to ask you out!”

Seungwan ignored her. “For this stunt, you’re sleeping on the couch tonight, and I get your bed!”

“Fiiiineeee!” (Seungwan let them share it because she was far too soft hearted to let the younger girl sleep somewhere uncomfortable for the night.)

* * *

Of course, neither of them were reasonable, rational people and so they immediately broke both rules they laid down. Seungwan found herself in a group chat with Yerim and Seulgi when her plane touched down in LA. Knowing Yerim, she’d planned it so Seungwan couldn’t show up at her door after finding out that she’d ignored Seungwan’s command. The group chat was already full of cute emojis and stickers before she opened it up.

She soon found she enjoyed talking to Seulgi, who was as sweet as her first impression had suggested. She learned that while Seulgi was now a dance major, she was a vocal music major first, which was why Yerim had thrown them into a chat together. By the time she landed back in Seoul, she was chatting comfortably, even sending a picture or two from the beach in LA, although without herself in it.

That was how she found herself agreeing to join voice chat again once she had a free evening again, settling into the chair next to Yerim.

“Hey guys, we’re here!”

“Hi!”

“Seungwan-ah!” Seulgi greeted her happily.

“Oh thank god, I’m sure our viewers are getting sick of watching Youtube videos with us,” Joy exclaimed.

“Are we streaming?” Yerim asked, looking towards Seungwan with wide eyes.

“From my computer and you better be grateful because that’s the only reason we aren’t watching compilations of Wendy says stupid shit in English. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

No one responded in the call, so Seungwan assumed Joy was talking to the chat Yerim was pulling up on the second monitor closer to Seungwan. From what she could see, the vast majority of responses were emotes of a rainbow man’s face. However, there were people agreeing with Joy as well as people saying that it was cute to see Leader Irene fangirl. Seungwan gulped. She wasn’t ready for this.

Yerim flipped her mic up from her mouth, covering up Seungwan’s mic with her hand. “Okay, let’s not panic. Just remember your mic can’t be muted so don’t say anything you don’t want people to record, okay?” It wasn’t incredibly reassuring when Yerim’s lips were pressed into a thin line, her eyes scanning the chat with concern as she flipped her mic back down.

Seungwan nodded stiffly, turning back to the screen where the chat was flying by with spam.

“Yerim, get yourself logged in! I’m glad Seungwan-ssi is back but you are late!”

“Yes unnie!”

Unlike last time, RV played seriously, each game focused. As such, Seungwan found herself idly responding to chat since everyone else was preoccupied. The chat was more than happy to explain to her what her friends were doing since she hardly remembered a thing they had told her last time.

_:hey guys since when does rv know red velvet  
:doesnt that sound like wendy  
CakeBot: Use the command !Who  
:!who  
CakeBot: Seungwan-ssi is Yerim’s cousin who is joining us for fun <3<3!!_

Seungwan winced as she read the message. Worst still, unlike many messages that disappeared in the current of spam, this one stuck.

_:I thought it WAS Wendy  
:it cant possibly be wendy itd be amazing promotion so itd be in the title  
:you cant just say Red Velvet Wendy is a “guest” and not say her name  
:Seungwanssi but isnt Wendys real name sengwan_

“What, Yerim?” she said when the younger girl smacked her thigh.

“You’re shaking the table! I can’t aim like that.” Yerim was too busy to notice the chat which was still going with speculation.

: _Seungwan is an unusual name for a girl  
:its more possible that theres a second girl named seungwan than for wendy to be on stream she doesnt even play games  
:omg what if irene unnie gets to meet wendy unnie for real!!_

“Uh... I’m definitely not Red Velvet, sorry,” Seungwan said with an awkward chuckle. “I get that a lot....” Inspiration struck her. “Until people hear me sing.”

_:sing for us unnie  
:prove you arent wendy  
:Yall are fucking clowns 🤡_

“But you told me you majored in voice,” Seulgi pouted.

Damn. Caught in the lie.

“There’s no way Seungwan is Wendy, or else I’d know,” Irene said placidly, immediately becoming Seungwan’s hero.

_:ofc stan unnie would know immediatly  
:trust goddess fangirl  
:Did you fail out of music school?_

“Can we not talk about me and music?” Wendy pleaded. To her utter horror, the chat started filling up with questions about her music background.

“Be nice chat,” Irene stepped in again as the round ended on Yerim’s screen. “If you keep harassing Seungwan I’ll have Joy cut the stream for the night.”

Immediately the chat filled up with both crying faces and rainbow men again. Seungwan assumed this was in response to Irene’s scolding. Irene only put the team back in queue, so Seungwan assumed she was in the clear for now.

After a few moments to let her nervous jitters pass, she started responding again to the chat, a few kind people steering the main conversation from Seungwan and whether or not she was Wendy or whether or not she had instead failed out of music school. A few people kept popping up to tease her, but Irene seemed to have frightened them such that the teasing was kept to a smattering of music note emotes.

Afterwards, once they had all said their goodbyes, she turned to Yerim and declared, “Never again.”

“Oh come on unnie, it was fine. No one really believed it.”

“Someone guessed out of the blue!” she protested.

“Your voice happens to sound similar to your voice,” Yerim said drily. “Twitch chat just likes making fun of people, and you know how much fun you are to tease.” Seungwan only glared at her. “You make it really easy to.”

“But—“

“Look, if Irene unnie doesn’t think you’re Wendy, you’re fine—”

Yerim was interrupted by a knock on the door. Her eyes widened at the sound, and Seungwan felt her stomach sink.

“What is it?”

“Sometimes Joy comes over after practice when we end early.” Yerim picked her phone up from the table with a frown. It lit up in her hand and she took the call that flashed on the screen. “Joy, not tonight!”

“But I’m already here!” Seungwan could hear from the phone speaker. “Since when do you have plans after skirmishes?”

“You never bother to ask before showing up,” Yerim huffed. She walked towards the door, and Seungwan panicked as she thought Yerim would open it.

She didn’t get a chance as the door opened before Yerim even reached it.

Joy stepped into the apartment, blithely toeing off her boots. “Why are we even still talking on the phone when I’m right—” She froze, one foot in a slipper, the other one clad in a sock covered with chicks with Santa hats. “Hey Yeri. Why is Red Velvet Wendy in your living room?”

For a moment, no one spoke.

Then, painfully awkwardly, Seungwan squeaked out, “Surprise?”

Yerim turned around to look at her before covering her face with a hand and shaking her head. “Hey Joy. It’s almost like I told you to not come over.”

“You didn’t bother to pick up your phone until I’d already walked over here.” Joy was looking over Yerim’s shoulder to where Seungwan was still standing in shock. “I have ‘Perfect 10’ playing on my phone right now… I’m wearing my stupid novelty Christmas socks in November…” Her eyes darted to Yerim’s. “This means Irene unnie was in a voice call with _Wendy_. While yelling at us about positioning. I’m going to die.”

“Holy shit, you’re right!” Yerim responded, both girls breaking into raucous laughter.

“Language!” Seungwan scolded, which only made the girls laugh harder.

“Red Velvet Wendy is telling you to not curse… I’m dying.” Joy held her stomach tightly, bending over. “They’d get along.”

“Shut the fucking door and get in here. It’s cold.”

“I’m having an existential crisis. The matrix is glitching. I’m in a badly written fanfic—” Yerim grabbed Joy’s arm and yanked her into the room, closing the door and locking it.

“Put on your other slipper and get over it,” Yerim told her, rolling her eyes before turning back to Seungwan who was still hovering by the desk. “Do you have a schedule tomorrow, unnie? Or can you drink and watch a shitty movie with us? And don’t even remind me that I’m underage, unnie,” she continued as Seungwan opened her mouth. “Either you’re in or you’re out.”

“I wanna order chicken,” Joy jumped in.

“I’ll order if I don’t have to pay you alcohol money.”

“Deal.”

Seungwan watched Joy pull a six pack out of her tote. Joy didn’t even look of age herself, but it seemed best if she didn’t mention it.

When Seungwan didn’t move, Yerim said, “You’re not going to tell anyone, right Joy?”

The other girl paused, already lifting a beer to her lips. “No? It was supposed to be a secret. I feel like I should be asking for an autograph or something, though.”

“I could do that,” Seungwan responded with a weak smile, but Joy just shook her head.

“It’s fine. Although…” Joy had a scheming look on her face that reminded of her of Yeri’s mischievous grins. “Could I get a selca? In the event Irene unnie ever finds out, I can _not_ pass up the chance to hold it over her. Also, it’d just be really cool, actually.”

“Um, sure, yeah. As long as you don’t show it to anyone.”

“Pinky swear,” Joy promised, wiggling said finger. “Do you want a beer? They aren’t good, but they’re here.”

Seungwan hesitated, but Yerim had apparently decided she’d had enough. She pulled a can from the pack, shoving it into Seungwan’s hands while dialing a number on her phone. While Yerim ordered chicken, Joy caught Seungwan’s eye as she popped open the can, raising her own in cheers.

She took said selca with Joy. In fact, they took about 30, carefully filtered down to two where they both looked acceptably beautiful according to Joy. They ended up on the couch, Seungwan showing her the different photo editing apps she had on her phone, while Yerim started flipping through movies on the TV.

“Are we feeling shitty romcom or horror?” Yerim asked. “No Disney.”

Seungwan rolled her eyes but shrugged.

“I think it’s a romcom kind of night,” Joy said. “I want to enjoy my chicken without gore.”

“You just a have a weak baby stomach,” Yerim teased, but settled on a movie before squishing herself onto the couch with Joy and Seungwan.

The movie itself was forgettable. Seungwan didn’t mind romcoms, even found the cheesiness touching, but there was more fun to be had in laughing over it with Yerim and Joy. The chicken arrived partway through, and Seungwan found herself breaking her diet hard between the second six pack and the two orders of chicken that they finished off. At least promotions were over, so one night of full eating and a puffy face the next day wasn’t the end of the world

“So, is she really that big of a fan?” Seungwan asked. When the movie ended, Yerim left the end credits rolling. Yerim started playing some game on her phone while Seungwan idly watched Joy browse Instagram. It was quiet, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Seungwan didn’t get to spend nights like this, just hanging out with others unhurriedly with a pleasant buzz and a full stomach.

“Who, Irene unnie you mean?” Joy replied. She didn’t catch the scowl on Yerim’s face as she nodded. “She’s a huge fan. In fact.” And here she stopped scrolling through pictures to look at Seungwan with a smirk.

“She’s such a fan that you might even be able to date the undatable Bae if you wanted.”

“Unnie!” Yerim exclaimed, smacking Joy’s leg.

“Is she even gay?” Seungwan wished she’d thought before she’d opened her mouth. Yerim squawked her displeasure, burying her face in her hands.

“Oh my god you haven’t even seen her!” Joy would’ve fallen off of the couch with laughter if Seungwan hadn’t grabbed her arm just in time. “Unnie’s never said it, but there’s no way she’s not gay af.”

“God, I hate you unnie,” Yerim sighed, but it didn’t deter Joy in the slightest, who seemed to take pleasure in Yerim’s distaste and Seungwan’s increasingly red cheeks.

“She has three posters of you on your walls! She very specifically hunted down the Bad Boy poster with the sexy styling.”

“God, that’s an awful poster,” Seungwan complained. “Why that one?”

“It’s good!” Joy protested.

“It doesn’t look like her at all,” Yerim said. “I’m pretty sure your stylist hates you, unnie.”

“She’s doing her best,” Seungwan protested. She gestured at herself. “This was what she had to work with.”

Yerim stretched a foot out to kick her. “Shut up. At least the live stages had good styling.”

“Aw, I didn’t think you’d watch them.”

“ _Three_ posters,” Joy repeated loudly.

“And you have a poster of Tiffany on your wall,” Yerim countered.

“And also Baekhyun. I’m not pretending I wouldn’t kiss the fuck out of them. I have their faces on my wall for a reason. And Irene unnie has Wendy’s face three times.”

“Honestly, that’s fair,” Yerim conceded. Seungwan sighed; she’d lost her backup. Not that she had expected it to last long since Yerim took just as much glee out of teasing her.

Joy continued cheerfully. “I’ve heard her say, and I quote, ‘Wendy speaking English is the cutest thing on Earth,’ which is basically Irene-speak for Wendy’s English makes me soooo wet—“

“Holy fuck, Joy!” Yerim screamed, “I did _not_ need that image!”

Seungwan’s mouth fell open in shock, having no idea how to react to the crudeness of the comment. She watched wordlessly as Yerim tried to kick Joy off the couch. Joy just let it happen as she clutched her stomach, laughing.

“Oh my god, just lemme show you a picture!” Joy said from the floor when her chuckles finally subsided.

“At this point I don’t even want to see,” Seungwan protested.

“Christ, don’t do it unnie. I’m sick of Irene fans.”

“I swear to god. Let me show you! What’s a good picture, Squirtle?”

Yerim shook her head but responded anyways, idly continuing to kick Joy’s leg. “That one from last week, after Busan.”

“Oooh, that one. That’s a good one.”

Seungwan didn’t want to take the phone when Joy handed it over; the twin evil grins on her and Yerim’s faces gave her a bad feeling. But by this point she was also curious and so she gave in when the phone was pressed into her hand.

In the picture Joy had pulled up was probably the most beautiful girl Seungwan had ever seen, which was saying something since she worked with idols. Her skin was a flawless milky hue, dark hair curling gently over bare shoulders. But the worst thing of all was her dark eyes, half-lidded with sleep. Seungwan looked at them and thought that Irene’s gaze could make anyone fall instantly.

“Well, what do you think?” Joy prompted after Seungwan had stared at the picture for a while.

Seungwan gulped. “I...”

“Gottem,” Joy crowed, plucking her phone out of Seungwan’s fingers and forcing the girl to drop her gaze from the selfie. “She sent this as a goodnight selfie. No makeup, messy hair.”

“Is she a model?” Seungwan croaked.

“Nope. Dance major like Seulgi. They go to the same school.”

“How does she not have a girlfriend already?” At this, Yerim groaned.

“Maybe she’s waiting for the chance to ask you out.” Joy winked. Seungwan sighed as Yerim screeched, causing Joy to laugh again.

  
They ended up scrolling through the group chat images together, Yerim leaning on Seungwan’s shoulder as Seungwan played with the empty bottle in her hands and watched Sooyoung flip through pictures.

“Look, here’s one of Irene and Seulgi!”

“Ugh... is the requirement to be in RV to be as pretty as a model?”

“Stop whining unnie; you are literally an idol,” Yerim told her. “Oh, here’s the back of your head!” On the phone was a picture of Yerim smiling, her face leaning into a brunette head. Seungwan’s hair was a few shades lighter, so it must’ve been during her last come back.

“She’s basically already in this group chat,” Sooyoung said. “I should just go ahead and add her.”

“What? No don’t do that—“

Seungwan watched as “wendy 💙💙💙 entered the group chat” popped on the screen.

“My username is what I use for Yerim and my managers!” she said with horror.

The younger girl peered at her phone. “So it is, huh.” Joy didn’t seem particularly worried. Yerim just rolled her eyes at both of them.

Seungwan frantically pulled out her own phone, brushing aside the group chat notification to change her username. She looked back at the group chat. The last line read “wendy💙💙💙 has changed their display name to seungwan.” Great. Even better, she could see “baechu” already typing.

**baechu >Welcome Seungwan!  
baechu >Why was your name Wendy 😮**

“Is that Irene-ssi? You did this, you fix it,” Seungwan demanded, elbowing Joy who was snickering quietly.

“Alright, alright,” Joy muttered, slowly dragging herself upright from where she’d been sliding down the couch and typing.

**satan1 > i outed her  
satan1 > meet your fellow wendy stan  
baechu > Really? Also it’s a weekday; you shouldn’t be drinking! Make sure to have a glass of water before you go to sleep  
seungwan > this is all Joy’s fault I’m very upset  
baechu > Ahhhhhhh 💜💜💜💜 🥰**

“This wasn’t fixing it,” Seungwan said, staring at her phone in horror.

“You’re gonna have to pretend to like yourself,” Joy said lazily, apparently already considering the matter done and returning to Instagram. Obviously at this point, any glamour Seungwan held as a famous idol had entirely worn off for Joy.

“I…”

“Like herself?” Yerim snorted. “That’ll be a good exercise for Wannie unnie, tee bee aitch.”

“I…” She could only watch useless as another text appeared on the screen.

**baechu > I was hoping Yeri would add you! Seulgi said you have been texting her already! I heard you were in LA  
seungwan > I was  
baechu > Apparently Wendy was in LA too recently! Were you there at the same time?  
seungwan > It was the same time, but LA is huge. no wendy. I mostly just saw the beaches.  
baechu > That sounds fun!**

“Send the picture of the sunset,” Joy advised. “Unnie loves sky pictures.”

“I’m not trying to flirt with her; I’m trying to do damage control thanks to you!”

“So distract her with the sky.”

**seungwan > Crap, okay  
seungwan changed their name to wendy💙  
wendy💙 > It looks weird otherwise  
wendy💙> I have been told to share this  
wendy💙uploaded an image to fuckin caek chat:**

**baechu > Wow it’s gorgeous! 😮 💖  
wendy💙 > It was! My phone didn’t even capture it entirely.  
wendy💙> Anyways these kids are gonna fall asleep drooling on the couch, so it’s time to roll them into bed. Good night!! 😴 😴 😴  
baechu > Goodnight!**

  
“Never again,” Seungwan muttered to the sound of twin snickering. “Never again. And you—” She turned sharply to Joy. “I didn’t think anyone could manage to top Yeri—”

Joy wiggled her eyebrows with a grin, and Seungwan gave up and buried her face in her hands. “I’m going to die here.”

“No unnie, _you_ didn’t drink five beers,” Yerim said consolingly, clumsily patting her back.

“Are you telling me you did?”

“I call bathroom first!” Joy announced, jumping up off the couch.

Seungwan just barely held in a scream of frustration. Instead, she carefully moved Yerim from her shoulder, who happily found a stray cushion to lay on. With a worried frown, she filled up glasses of water, downing one herself before shoving a second into Yerim’s hand despite her tired protests.

Next, she went to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Water delivery! Are you dying in there?”

“Nooooo, I’m good.”

“Hurry up before Yerim falls asleep on the couch because I can’t carry her.”

“I have to follow all ten steps for clear skin, unnie!”

“Yerim doesn’t even have that many skin products,” Seungwan protested, but stopped short as the door opened without warning.

“Thanks, unnie,” Joy said with a grin, taking the glass and ignoring the exasperated look Seungwan was giving her. “Let’s go pick up baby Yerim.”

Despite the endless teasing throughout the night, Joy was exceedingly gentle as she helped Seungwan coax Yerim into cleaning up and getting to bed. She was glad for the help as the youngest girl whined and stumbled through the apartment, and breathed a sigh of relief when they tucked her in.

“Do you need any blankets for the couch?” She asked once Yerim was safely in bed. She looked around the room with a frown at the beer cans scattered on the table. She wanted to clean things up, but Joy was yawning and she decided that it'd be better to let her rest.

“Don’t worry, I know where they are,” Joy assured her, waving her away. “I’ve stayed over a few times when it gets this late.”

“Do you need some water?”

“You worry a lot, don’t you?” But there was no heat in the question; Seungwan looked over to see Joy sleepily smiling as she pulled bedding out from the closet. “It’s fine; go to bed. It was cool to meet you, unnie.”

“Yeah… I had fun.” She stopped to think about whether that was really true, but despite the near constant heart attacks Yerim and Joy gave her when they worked together, she had to say that she had enjoyed the simple night in. “Here, I’ll turn the light off for you.”

“Thanks, unnie. Say…”

Seungwan paused, her hand over the light switch. “Yeah?”

“Would you want to date Irene unnie, though?”

“What…?”

Joy seemed to hear the sharpness in her tone. “I mean, like. Look, I just met you for real, but Irene unnie… she gets a lot of insincere people who just like her looks. And I think… you could be good for her is all, if you wanted.”

She paused. “Is this just because I’m Wendy?”

“No. It’s because you’ve been a caring Seungwan unnie.” Joy stretched with a yawn, pulling the covers over herself snugly. “Look, no pressure, but if you decide you're interested, I’m Team Wendy is all I'm saying.”

“I… um, okay.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that, but at least it seemed complimentary. She thought, anyways.

“Good night.”

“Good night, Joy.” She flipped off the light and left Joy to settle in for the night.

Seungwan stole a pair of pajamas from Yerim’s dresser, washing up before sliding into bed behind the younger girl. She was already asleep, not even stirring at Seungwan’s movement.

For a moment she lay on her back, thinking about Joy’s words. It all seemed like a stupid joke, but regardless… Joy’s sudden sincerity was touching. She got the impression that Joy didn’t show softness often. Whether or not Seungwan would want to get closer to Irene, Joy's concern for the older girl was sweet.

She recalled the picture Joy had showed her with a sigh, rolling over to her side. Irene was beautiful, she couldn’t deny but… She really didn’t know her, and she really didn't need that kind of complication in her life. Especially not with someone who admired her idol persona. Seungwan was just… Seungwan. Without the makeup artists and flashy outfits, and bright lights, she was just a homebody who was easily roasted by her cousin and friend. She wasn’t anything special; she just liked to sing and happened to get a job at it. She didn't need someone in her life to disappoint with the reality behind Wendy.

She exhaled. There was no reason to think that she even needed to worry about this; she was already getting ahead of herself as usual. She wrapped the blankets around her, tugging extra from Yerim who had the majority in her arms. Blinking the thoughts away, she let the reminants of alcohol heaviness in her limbs help her drift off to sleep.

* * *


End file.
